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Summary
Summary
A patterned parade of striped animals leaps to life!
What kinds of animals have stripes, and why do they have them? To scare predators, hide more easily, or warn enemies to stay away? Award-winning author-illustrator Susan Stockdale explores nineteen striped animals from around the world, each depicted in their native habitats. Her bright, detailed paintings help show the many reasons stripes are found in nature. Back matter tells a little bit more about each animal, and readers can test their knowledge of animal stripes with a fun matching game at the end.
Author Notes
Susan Stockdale began her art career as a textile designer for the apparel industry, providing her an opportunity to express her love of pattern and color. Today, pattern and color remain central to her work as the author and illustrator of critically acclaimed picture books that celebrate nature. Her books have won a variety of awards including the ALSC Notable Children's Book, NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts, NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12, and the Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year. Susan lives in Maryland with her husband and is a popular speaker at schools and conferences.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Stockdale pairs precise acrylic illustrations with equally tidy verse to depict 19 striped animals. "Stripes found in water,/ sliding through weeds./ Drinking from rivers,/ and darting through reeds," she writes, as the accompanying images show purple-striped jellyfish, an eastern garter snake, ring-tailed lemurs, and an American bittern. Elsewhere, a horizontally striped surgeonfish is seen "scouting a reef" amid speckled coral, and a poison frog in shocking orange, yellow, and red stripes is "propped on a log." Closer to home, two children cuddle with striped cats. Appended pages discuss the ways stripes benefit each creature and also provide a guessing game for readers to match stripes with their respective animals. Ages 2-6. Agent: Gina Maccoby, Gina Maccoby Literary Agency. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In a simple rhyming text, Stockdale introduces nineteen different striped animals: "Stripes found in water, / sliding through weeds. / Drinking from rivers, / and darting through reeds." The sparse text captions large portraits of each creature; the engaging images are eye-catching if not very detailed. A concluding double-page spread provides species names with brief blurbs about how each benefits from its stripes. A matching game is appended. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
While a skunk makes an unusual cover girl, a striking jacket illustration of a skunk invites readers to look inside this picture book on striped animals. Each page or double-page spread portrays one or more animals in an acrylic painting with clean lines; bold, simplified shapes; and some eye-catching color combinations. With lines such as Propped on a log, / poised on a leaf. / Scaling a ridge / and scouting a reef, short rhymed couplets string the illustrations together in a pleasant way but otherwise seem to have little purpose. The passage quoted above (spanning six pages) accompanies images of a frog, a butterfly, a skunk, and several fish. The animals are identified only in an appended section that reproduces the paintings in miniature and provides a bit of information related to each creature's stripes. A challenging matching game is also appended. This attractive picture book, one of the few to focus on stripes in nature, offers images that a motivated teacher could use for discussion.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Striped animals from around the world are featured in this informational picture book. The lyrical, rhyming text briefly describes each creature in action in its habitat: "Prowling the prairie,/perched on a peak./Crawling on cactus,/and camped by a creek." Stockdale's corresponding acrylic illustrations show a North American badger stalking through tall grass; an African bongo in the moonlight; cactus bees collecting nectar, and a baby Malayan tapir shaded by palm trees. A clearly written glossary serves as an identification guide, from the exotic purple-striped jellyfish ("Stripes found in water") to the familiar tabby cat ("Stripes found with children, curled in their arms"), and explains how each animal benefits from having stripes. A matching game encourages close observation. This engaging introduction to patterns in nature is a visual delight.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Stockdale's feast for the eyes explores the stripes found in the animal world. In rhyming verse often separated by page turns, the author presents readers with the many places stripes can be found: "Propped on a log, / poised on a leaf. // Scaling a ridge, // and scouting a reef." On each page is a cleanly rendered portrayal of a striped animal found in that habitat: a frog, a butterfly, a skunk and some tropical fish. Sharp lines and beautiful patterns are what readers will notice about Stockdale's acrylic artwork. The animals are not named within the text, allowing this to be a great guessing game, though the youngest ones may not sit still long enough to learn about the animals in the backmatter. And while the creatures are a nifty mix of the common and less well-known--zebra, skunk, bees, tapir, okapi, bongo--most readers can simply name the type of animal and be satisfied; they need not know the specific names of the tropical fish, though they are provided. The final two spreads present readers with thumbnails of the animals and a few sentences of information about each, as well as a challenge: Match the 19 different stripe patterns to their animals from the text (answers are provided). A lovely, interactive exploration of stripes and a good introduction to some new animals. (Informational picture book. 2-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
